Newsflash

Spring 2015

From the Trail of Tears to the Long March to Rome, Ambassadors at Large, Where Ravens meet Eagles

The Long March to Rome is a journey born in the heart. We, the Long Marchers –the leaders, elders and hereditary chiefs of the great indigenous nations of the world – have undertaken this sacred journey. We have listened to our Creator. We have listened to the ancestors. We have listened to our heart of hearts. Our Creator has watched over our suffering for 500 years, and now the Creator shall watch over us as we undertake the Long March to Rome.

People will ask: Why are they marching? And we shall answer: “We march first and foremost to Shout out the Lie – the lie first uttered by the Pope five hundred years ago – that a man or a woman or a child can be seen as homo animalis – a lesser human, purely because he or she worships at another altar”.

LMR News & Events

December 11, 2014

Special Chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations (Canada) adopt consensus resolution to endorse and encourage the participation of its peoples in the Long March to Rome. Newly-elected chief, Perry Bellegarde announces he will be undertaking the Long March to Rome.

December 2014

APTN (Aboriginal People’s Television Network) contacts LMR to follow the story of the Long March to Rome.

February 12, 2015

Via Francigena

The Via Francigena is an ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome. Pilgrims have marched on the Via Francigena since the 4th century AD.

Ambassadors at Large

A world we did not know and a world whose danger seemed to emerge from nowhere – the European world – descended upon our shores 500 years ago. Men who called themselves “Discoverers”, and who spoke in the name of Christianity, brought only war, misery, illness, and suffering to our people. Now, after five long centuries, we will descend upon the shores of Europe.
Many indigenous people have already responded to our Shout, to join in the Long March to Rome. Those people come from indigenous groups worldwide – Maya, Navajo, Maori, Gitanyow, Cree, Shawnee, Cayuse – they have come forward to tell how their personal history led them to the Long March to Rome.
During the months leading up to the Long March to Rome, you will meet some of these people, in our section “Where Ravens meet Eagles”. Men and women who have kept the memory of time immemorial alive and who want to share it with you.

Where Ravens meet Eagles

Long Marchers come from as far south as Australia and New Zealand and as far north as the Arctic Circle. Some travel from the central mountains of British Columbia, and others from the Dakotas. Some of the Long Marchers come from warrior nations; others see themselves as peacemakers. Some yearn after the lessons of the elders; others wish to take their rightful place in the modern world. But their common desire draws them to the Long March to Rome – a desire to hear the truth admitted by the Vatican Pontiff.

Keith Matthew, founder, Seklep Business Services, is a member of and former Chief and Councilor of the Simpcw First Nation. While continuing as a negotiator for his community and as a business leader on structuring negotiation with First Nations, Keith has spearheaded the entire Long March to Rome movement north of the 49th, including the Special Chiefs resolution recently passed by the Assembly of First Nations endorsing the Long March to Rome.

Perry Bellegarde – After serving as Tribal Council Representative for the Touchewood-File Hills-Qu’Appelle Tribal Council, Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and Saskatchewan Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations and Chief of Little Black Bear First Nation, Perry Bellegarde was recently elected as Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in December 2014. Upon his election, he announced that he was participating in the Long March to Rome.

Dr. David Close is Director of the Aboriginal Fisheries Research Unit at the UBC Fisheries Centre. Dr. Close is also faculty in the Department of Zoology. He is a citizen of the Cayuse Nation located on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Dr. Close’s current research focuses primarily on the ancient vertebrate, the lamprey which is a culturally important food to the aboriginal peoples along the west coast. He conducts interdisciplinary research in the areas of aquatic ecology, fish physiology, chemical ecology, and integrating traditional knowledge and fisheries science. David Close is a founding member of the Long March to Rome.

What is to be done?

Already, during the first six months since the first Call to Indigenous Peoples was launched worldwide, we have heard the answer to The Shout coming from the Maya peoples, from the Dene nations of the Arctic North to the Aboriginals of Western Australia. Whether Maya or Navajo, Mapuche or Cree, the question has been either “Where can I learn more?” or “How can I participate?”